The most important ingredient in any perfume is time. After blending, each of our compositions is left to macerate in a dark oak cask for a minimum of ninety days, during which nothing is done to it, nothing is said to it, and nobody is allowed to look at it directly. It is, in many ways, a long and difficult courtship.
At the end, the cask is opened by a ceremonial paw, Céleste’s, and the liquid is held up to the light. It has deepened. It has found its own shape. It has, in a quiet way, forgiven us. We then filter it, bottle it, and rest it for a further week, since a perfume, like a cat, will not be hurried into the world. We find this makes a difference of approximately 11 percent, according to a test no one will explain.
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